K-pop comes to Prague: New festival featuring six bands announced for October

K-pop fans in Czechia will be happy to learn that in early October six popular bands from South Korea will play at Prague’s O2 Arena. Dubbed the K-pop festival, the event features a concert from boybands Monsta X, Cravity, and AB6IX in the Czech capital on Oct. 6.

The remaining three bands that will also perform will be named in the coming weeks. Organizers have confirmed that at least one of the groups will be an all-girl band. Advance ticket sales start on Saturday, Sept. 9 at 11 a.m. on Ticketportal and Ticketmaster.

Monsta X, which mainly incorporates aspects of hip-hop, EDM, and pop into its music style, has previously won the Artist of the Year accolade at the Asia Artist Awards. Its most played song on Spotify is “Who Do U Love?”, which received over 69 million plays.

Cravity has previously won the New Artist of the Year title at the Melon Music Awards. Its new single “Groovy” recently charted at number three on Japan’s main music charts. AB6IX, whose songs range from R&B to rhythmic funk, in 2019 won the New Artist prize at the Seoul Music Awards and is best-known for its “Cherry” and “Fly Away” singles.

Czech singer Dominika Hašková will present the festival along with a South Korean counterpart. “I really appreciate the talent that has come out of the K-POP scene and I am very excited to be a part of this amazing event that the Czech Republic has decided to host," said the singer.

Prague hosted a K-pop concert in December 2015 that included bands SHINee and Red Velvet. The music genre is growing in popularity across the country, with the Czech-Korean Production helping promote K-pop by organizing workshops and music events. KSPACE, the country’s first store devoted to K-pop, also recently opened in Prague.

On a global scale, music-industry news site NME earlier this year called Europe “K-pop's fastest-growing market.” The upcoming festival will serve to further increase K-pop's presence in Czechia and Central Europe.